Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park spans over 1,017 acres and is home to some of San Francisco's finest treasures, many of which are listed below.
Kezar Stadium
The stadium has been used in recent years for soccer, lacrosse, and track and field and is the host of the annual city high school football championship.
Conservatory of Flowers
One of the world's largest conservatories built of traditional wood and glass panes.
AIDS Memorial Grove
The AIDS Memorial Grove has been in progress since 1988. In 1996, it was designated a national memorial by an act of Congress, becoming an affiliated area of the National Park System. The Grove's executive director, Thom Weyand, has said that "part of the beauty of the grove is that as a memorial which receives no federal money, it is blessedly removed from the fight over the controversy of AIDS."
The Music Concourse Area
The Music Concourse is a sunken, oval-shaped open-air plaza. Its focal point is the Spreckels Temple of Music, also called the "Bandshell" where numerous music performance have been staged. It includes a number of statues of various historic figures, four fountains, and a regular grid array of heavily pollarded trees.
De Young Museum
De Young Museum is a fine arts museum that was opened January 1921.
Academy of Sciences
The California Academy of Sciences is one of the largest natural history museums in the world, and also houses the Steinhart Aquarium and the Morrison Planetarium. The Academy of Sciences carries exhibits of reptiles and amphibians, astronomy, prehistoric life, various gems and minerals, earthquakes, and aquatic life. A completely new building for the Museum opened in September 2008 designed by Renzo Piano.
Japanese Tea Garden
The five acre Japanese tea garden at Golden Gate Park is the oldest public Japanese garden in the United States. The garden was designed by Makoto Hagiwara for the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894, including still-standing features such as the Drum Bridge and the tea house. Subsequent additions included a pagoda and Zen garden. It is reputedly the birthplace of the fortune cookie.
San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum
This 55 acre arboretum contains more than 7,500 plant species. The arboretum also houses the Helen Crocker Russell Library, northern California's largest horticultural library.
Stow Lake
Stow Lake surrounds the prominent Strawberry Hill, now an island with an electrically pumped waterfall. Rowboats, pedal boats, and electrically powered boats can be rented at the boathouse. Much of the western portion of San Francisco can be seen from the top of this hill, which at its top contains one of the reservoirs that supply a network of high-pressure water mains that exclusively supply specialized fire hydrants throughout the city.
Spreckels Lake
Spreckels Lake is located on the northern side of the park near 36th Avenue. As the home waters of the San Francisco Model Yacht Club, one can usually find model yachts sailing on Spreckels Lake.
Golden Gate Park Stadium
Golden Gate Park Stadium, also known as the "Polo Field", in the western section of the park was opened in 1906, today, the stadium is marked by its raised perimeter and a small grandstand.
Bison Paddock
Bison have been kept in Golden Gate Park since 1891, when a small herd was purchased by the park commission.
Windmills
In 1902, the parks commission authorized construction of two windmills to pump subterranean water to supply the park.
Beach Chalet
The building houses the Beach Chalet Brewery and Restaurant on the second floor. Its sister restaurant, the Park Chalet, is an open-air dining room facing the park.